Line feed alarm for friction feed telegraph page printers



April 1965 R. J. DUNLAVEY ETAL 3,179,746

LINE FEED ALARM FOR FRICTION FEED TELEGRAPH PAGE PRINTERS Filed April13, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS ROBERT J. DUNLAVEY THEODORE l.PRZYSIECKI ATTORNEY @wQv LINE FEED ALARM FOR FRICTION FEED TELEGRAPHPAGE PRINTERS April 20, 1965 R. J. DUNLAVEY ETAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledApril 13, 1962 INVENTORS ROBERT J. DUNLAVEY THEODORE L PRZYSIECKIATTORNEY United States Patent 3,179,746 LINE FEED ALARM FUR FRlCllGNFEED TELEGRAPH PAGE PRINTERS Robert J. Dunlavey, Palatine, and TheodoreH. lrzysiecki,

Mount Prospect, Ill, assiguors to Teletype (Iorpora'tion, Sltokie, lll.,a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 13, 1962, Ser. No. 187,289

9 Claims. (Cl. 17d-42) Thisinvention relates to alarm devices forprinting telegraph page printers and more particularly to a line feedalarm device for friction feed telegraph page printers.

In printing telegraph page printers wherein the web of paper is fed byfriction rather than by sprockets entering preformed holes in the webthere is a possibility that the web will not be fed when a line feedsignal is received in the apparatus due to slippage between the platenand web of paper. This could result from maladjustment of the frictionfeed device, the absence of paper in the apparatus or other causes andwould result in superposing one line of printing, or more, on top of thepreceding line of printing or printing on the platen. This would causethe obliteration or loss of the printed mes sage and consequently, thereis a need for some means for periodically checking the effectiveoperability of the friction feed mechanism.

Accordingly, the principal object of the present invention is thedetection of thefailure of a line feed mechanism of the friction feedtype in printing telegraph apparatus to function.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in a telegraph pageprinter, a device responsive to a given signal to check theeffectiveness of the web feeding mechanism of. the printer.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a line feed alarmdevice for friction feed telegraph printers which will call attention tothe fact that, although the platen is rotated the web of recordingmedium is not fed by it.

In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention a piercingmember is provided which, upon receipt of a predetermined signal in theapparatus, will be moved to pierce the paper so that when the paper ismoved by the platen the piercing member will be rocked about its supportto remove one end of the piercing member from the path of anoscillatable contact actuating lever which normally tends to follow themovement of the support for the piercing member whereby if the piercingmember is not rocked by the paper as a consequence of the movement ofthe paper by the platen, the contact actuating lever will not bepermitted to follow the movement of the racks and will not operate aswitch thereby causing an alarm to be actuated.

A complete understanding of the invention may be had by reference to thefollowing description when considered in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partial vertical sectional view showing the line feedmechanism of a friction feed type of page printer equipped with thedevice of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view taken substantially along the line 2-2 ofFIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows showing the mechanism foractuating the piercing member;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view taken substantially along the line 33 ofFIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows showing the line feed failuredetecting mechanism in plan, and

FIGS. 4 and 5 are fragmentary views similar to FIG. 1 showing thevarious positions assumed by the component parts of the device duringtheir operation.

The line feed mechanism according to the present invention is designedto be embodied in a telegraph page printer of the type disclosed inUnited States Patent No. 2,505,729, granted April 25, 1950, to W. l.Zenner, as modified by the platen driving mechanism for effecting linefeeding operations disclosed in United States Patent No. 2,667,256,granted January 26, 1954, to B. F. Madsen. The disclosure of these twopatents is incorporated herein by reference and made a part hereof forthe disclosure of the line feeding mechanism per se.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference charactersdesignate the same parts throughout the several views and havingreference to the patent to B. F. Madsen mentioned hereinbefore, it willbe seen that the line feed mechanism comprises a gear 11 fixed to theplaten 12 of the printer and a pair of rack members 13 and 14. The gear11 rotates with the platen 12 and the rack members 13 and 14 willalternately engage with the teeth of the gear 11 with a slight overlapof engageability being provided to impart substantially uniform motionto the gear 11 and platen 12. These rack members 13 and 14 are connectedto eccentrics 16 and 17, respectively, and power for operating the racksis derived from a main shaft 18. These rack members 13 and 14 controlthe driving of the platen 12 by sliding and oscillating on a pivot 19 asdescribed in the above-mentioned patent to B. F. Madsen.

The mechanism for detecting the failure of the line feed mechanism tofeed a web of paper 21 is mounted on the main framework of the printer,being supported from a side plate 20., A main support bracket 25 issuitably fixed to the side plate 20 and supports the components whichcomprise the line feed alarm device of the present invention' A magnetsupporting member 26 is fixed to the bracket 25 and supports theactuating coil 27 of an electromagnet 28 and also pivotally supports anarmature 29 of the electromagnet 28. The armature 29 is normally biasedto the position shown in FIG. 2 by a contractile spring 31) which isattached to a stud 31 mounted on the magnet supporting member 26 and tothe left end of the armature 29. The right end (FIG. 2) of the armature29 extends into a slot 32 in a pivoted lever 33. The pivoted lever 33 isoscillatable about a pivot stud 34 that projects from the main supportbracket 25 and supports a piercing member 40 at its upper end.

The pivoted lever 33 has a platform 41 formed on its upper end fromwhich two guide fingers 42 and 43 extend upwardly through apertures 44and 45 in the piercing member 40 to guide the piercing member 40. Thepiercing member 46 is held on the platform 41 by a light compressionspring 46 which bears against the upper surface of the piercing member40 and the lower surface of the head of a screw 47 which is attached tothe platform 41 and has its shank extending through an aperture 38 inthe piercing member 49. The aperture 38 in the piercing member 40 isslightly larger in diameter than the shank of the screw 47 whereby,while the spring 46 urges the piercing member 40 to lie flat on theplatform 41, the piercing member 40 may be rocked with respect to theplatform 41, being guided by the shank of the screw 47 and guide fingers42 and 43.

A guide bracket 48 is mounted on the main support bracket 25 and isprovided with a pair of guide members 29 which are disposed uponopposite sides of the pointed left end (FIG. 3) of the piercing member46 to guide the piercing member in its movement toward the web of paper21. The web of paper 21 is held against the platen 12 by a shoe 50(FIGS. 1 and 4) which extends across the platen 12 and is suitablysupported on the framework of theapparatus by a shoe support 51 to holdthe entire length of the platen.

When the electromagnet 28 is de-energized as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 ofthe drawings, the piercing member 4h will be maintained in the positionshown in FIG. 1 where itstright end is aligned with a laterallyextending arm 52 of a contact actuating lever 53. The contact actuatinglever 53 which is pivotally mounted on a pivot stud 54, is biased torock counterclockwise about stud 54- by a spring 39 and has atransversely extending arm 55 lying in the path of a lateral extensionas of the pivoted lever 33. The contact actuating lever 53 is alsoprovided with two other laterally extending arms 57 and 5S. he arm 57extends into cooperative relationship with an insulator 59 mounted atthe free end of a contact spring 60 as seen most clearly in FIG. 4. Thecontact spring 69 is biased to hold its contact 61 out of engagementwith a contact 62 on a contact spring 63. Both the contact spring 60 andthe contact spring 63 are mounted in a suitable insulating support 65.

The laterally extending arm 58 extends into the path of the upper endsof the two rack members 13 and 14 whereby in each feeding cycle of theline feed mechanism the blocking lever 53 will be engaged by one or theother of the racks l3 and 14 and will be blocked from rockingcounterclockwise about its pivot stud 54 by the racks at that time inthe line feeding operation of the apparatus but will be permitted torock counterclockwise when the racks are both rocked about the pivot 19in a counterclockwise direction. It should be noted that the laterallyextending arm 57 extends through an aperture 65 in the main supportbracket to position to engage the insulator 59.

Operation In the normal operation of a .page printer apparatus such asthat described in the aforementioned patents to V]; J. Zenner and B. F.Madsen, the receipt of a line feed signal in the printing telegraphapparatus will initiate a cycle of rotation of the eccentrics 16 and 1'7and a combination rocking motion and vertical reciprocation will beimparted to the rack members 13 and i l, the reciprocation and rockingmotion being controlled by the pivot 19 which serves to guide the racks13 and 14-. The platen, being driven by the gear 11, will havestep-bystep rotation imparted to it each time the rack members 13 and 14are operated and normally will feed the web of paper 21 to present ablank line of it to the printing mechanisms. When it is desired to checkthe line feed mechanism to determine whether or not it is operatingproperly, the electromagnet 28 may be energized in any suitable manner,for example, by the transmission over a telegraph line (not shown) of aseries of code combinations calling for the operation of thiselectromagnet in the manner well known in the art. Then, while theelectromagnet Z8 is held energized, line feed signals may be fed to theapparatus to-cause the rack members 13 and 14 to be operated for drivingthe platen 12. When the electromagnet 28 is energized the pivoted lever33 will be rocked counterclockwise about the pivot stud 34 to move thelateral extension 56 of it out of engagement this occurs the pivotedlever 33 will assume the position shown in FIG. 4 wherein the extension56 is disengaged from the transversely extending arm 55 and the contactactuating lever 53 under the influence of its spring 39 will tend tofollow pivoted lever 33. The pivoted lever 33 in being rockedcounterclockwise will carry the piercing member id with it to cause thepointed left end of a the piercing member 40 to pierce the paper. Whenthe first line feed signal is received in the apparatus with V thepiercing member 4 49 entered into the web of paper I assume the positionshown in dotted lines at 67 in FIG. 4.

in printers of the type disclosed in the aforementioned (I), patents toW. I. Zenne-r and B. F. Madsen both racks 13 and 14 return to fullengagement with the gear 11 after each ceding operation. During thefeeding operation, one or the other of the racks l3 and M will move tothe position shown in FIG; 5 preparatory to re-engagement with andoperation of the gear 11. Thus, before the piercing member 4h is rockedwith respect to the platform 4-1, the contact actuating lever 53 will bedisengaged from the right end of the piercing member 4% by one or theother of the racks engaging its laterally extending arm 58 as shown inFIG. 5 so that there will be a minimum of resistance of the rockingmovement of the piercing member 4h. At the end of the line feedoperation the piercing member 48' will be in the position shown indotted lines in'FIG. 4 and solid lines in FIG. 5 provided a proper linefeed of the web of paper .21 has taken place. If the piercing member 4%)has pierced the paper and the piercing member 4% has not been rockedwith respect to the platform 4-1, its right end will be in blockingengagement with the laterally extending arm 52 of the contact actuatinglever 53 and will prevent the lever 53 from rocking counterclockwiseabout its pivot stud 54. This will result in the pair of contacts 6-1and 62 being held out of engagement one with the other and an alarm willbe ac tuated. has been received in the apparatus an alarm condition willprevail unless the contact spring 6% is moved to make contact betweenthe contacts tilt and 62. li hen the contacts 61 and as are permitted toclose, indicating that there has been a proper feeding of the web ofpaper 21, no alarm will be given and the apparatus will be in conditionto receive, line signals. Release of the electrom-agnet 22 will causethe pivoted lever 33 to be rocked back to the position shown in FIG. 1to withdraw the piercing member 4-0 from the paper and to blockcounterclockwise movement of the contact actuating member 53 by movingits lateral extension 56 to the position shown, in FIG. 1. 7

Although only one embodiment of, the invention is shown in the drawingsand described in the foregoing speciiication it will be understood thatinventionis not limited to the specific embodiment described but iscapable of modification and rearrangement and substitution or" parts andelements without departing from the spirit of the invention. t Y

What is claimed is: t

l. A line feed alarm device for use with a telegraph page printer havinga line feed mechanism for feeding a web or" record material step-by-stepto bring succeeding areas of the web into a printing position comprising(a) a control magnet operated by receipt in the rinter of apredetermined code combination of signals,

(5) a pivoted lever held in one position by said magnet when said magnetis de-energized and moved to a second position upon energization of saidmagnet,

(c) a web engaging member carried by said pivoted lever and moved toposition to be driven by the web by said pivoted lever when said pivotedlever is moved to said second position, a

(d) contact operating means urged to move with said pivoted lever, saidweb engaging member and the line feed mechanism having portions whichblock such movement in certain of the operative positions of said memberand of said mechanism, and

(e) alarm means including a pair of contacts operated by said contactoperating means when the contact operating means is unblocked by the webengaging means having been driven by the web and the line feedingmechanism is operated and the pivoted lever is in said second position.

2. A line feed alarm device for use with atelcgraph page printer havinga line feed mechanism for feeding a web of record materialstcp-by-stepto bring succeeding areas of the web into a printingpositioncornprising it will be understood that after a line feed signal(a) a control magnet operated by receipt in the printer of apredetermined code combination of signals,

(b) a pivoted lever held one position by said magnet when said magnet isde-energized and moved to a second position upon energization of saidmagnet,

(c) a web engaging member oscillatably mounted on said pivoted lever andmoved into engagement with the Web by said pivoted lever when saidpivoted lever is moved to said second position whereby movement of theweb will oscillate the web en aging membe from a blocking to anunbloclcing position,

(d) contact operating means normally blocked from operating by said webengaging member in the blocking position and by said pivoted lever insaid first position, and

(e) alarm means including a pair of contacts operated by said contactoperating means when the ivoted lever is in said second position and theweb piercing member is oscillated to the unblocking position.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said contact operating meansis provided with an arm disposed in the path of said line feed mechanismfor movement by said line feed mechanism whereby said line feedmechanism momentarily moves said contact operating means away from saidweb engaging member to permit the web engaging member to be readilymoved by the web.

4. A line feed alarm device for use with a telegraph page printer havinga line feed mechanism for feeding a web of record material step-by-stepto bring succeeding areas of the web into a printing position comprising(a) a control magnet operated by receipt in the printer of apredetermined code combination of signals,

(b) a pivoted lever held in one position by said magnet when said magnetis de-energized and moved to a second position upon energization of saidmagnet,

(c) a web piercing member carried by said pivoted lever and osciilatablewith respect thereto and moved to pierce the web by said pivoted leverin moving to said second position whereby movement of the web willoscillate the web piercing member to an unblocking position,

(d) a contact actuating lever blocked from operating by said webpiercing member when said web piercing member is not oscillated by theweb, and

(c) alarm means including a pair of contacts operated by said contactactuating lever to indicate that the web piercing means has not beendriven by the web when the line feedin mechanism was operated.

5. In a telegraph page printer having line feed mechanism for impartinga step of rotation to a platen to feed a record Web one step in responseto each line feed signal received in the printer; an alarm device fordetecting the failure of the feed mechanism to impart movement to theweb comprising (a) a pair of alarm contacts,

(b). an actuating lever spring biased to operate said contacts,

(c) a pivoted lever for normally holding said contact actuating lever inunactuated positioned,

(d) a pivot for supporting said pivoted lever,

(e) means engageabie with the web and pivotally mounted on the pivotlever for movement by the web when the pivoted lever is moved about itspivot,

(f) a selectively actuated member for rocking said pivoted lever aboutits pivot to engage said means with the Web,

(g) a blocking arm on the contact actuating lever for engagement withone end of said means to block ti movement of the contact actuatinglever when a line feed signal is received and the web doesnot move tomove said means about its pivot on the pivoted lever.

6. in a telegraph page printer having line feed mechanism for impartinga step of rotation to a platen to feed a record web one step in responseto each line feed signal received in the printer; an alarm device fordetecting the failure of the feed mechanism to impart movement to theweb comprising (a) a pair of alarm contacts,

(b) a main lever,

(c) a pivot pin for supporting said main lever for oscillation,

(6.) means for moving said main lever from one position to a secondposition,

(6) a contact actuating lever spring biased to follow the movement ofsaid main lever to its second position to operate said contacts,

(f) a web engaging member pivotally mounted on said main lever forengagement with and pivotal movement by the web when the main lever ismoved to the second position,

(g) an arm extending from said contact actuating lever for engagementwith an end of the paper engaging member to prevent operation of thealarm contacts when the main lever engages the web engaging membet withthe web and the web is not fed in response to a received line signal,and

(It) means for actuating the main lever moving means.

'7. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein the web engaging means has aknife edge for penetrating the paper and its end opposite the knife edgeblocks movement of the contact actuating lever when the Web fails tomove upon receipt of a line signal in the apparatus.

8. Apparatus according to claim 6 wherein the web engaging member is apiercing member which is spring urged to maintain a fixed relation withrespect to the main lever but may be rocked with respect to the mainlever by movement of the web after the web engaging member has piercedthe web to move the end of the web engaging member opposite to its webengaging end out of the path of movement of the blocking arm on thecontact actuating lever.

9. Apparatus according to claim 6 wherein the Web engaging member is apiercing member which is spring urged to maintain a fixed relation withrespect to the main lever but may be rocked with respect to the mainlever by movement of the web after the web engaging member has piercedthe web to move the end of the piercing member opposite to its webengaging end out of the path of movement of the blocking arm on thecontact actuating lever, and the actuating means for the main lever isthe armature of an electromagnet operated by receipt in the printer of apredetermined code combination of signals and serves to rock the mainlever to a position to carry the piercing member into the Web so thatthe piercing member will be rocked about the main lever when the Web ismoved one step by the line feed mechanism to unblock the contactactuating lever and permit it to operate the alarm contacts.

ROBERT H. ROSE, Primary Examiner.

6/62 Ortiz 17s-42

1. A LINE FEED ALARM DEVICE FOR USE WITH A TELEGRAPH PAGE PRINTER HAVINGA LINE FEED MECHANISM FOR FEEDING A WEB OF RECORD MATERIAL STEP-BY-STEPTO BRING SUCCEEDING AREAS OF THE WEB INTO A PRINTING POSITION COMPRISING(A) A CONTROL MAGNET OPERATED BY RECEIPT IN THE PRINTER OF APREDETERMINED CODE COMBINATION OF SIGNALS, (B) A PIVOTED LEVER HELD INONE POSITION BY SAID MAGNET WHEN SAID MAGNET IS DE-ENERGIZED AND MOVEDTO A SECOND POSITION UPON ENERGIZATION OF SAID MAGNET, (C) A WEBENGAGING MEMBER CARRIED BY SAID PIVOTED LEVER AND MOVED TO POSITION TOBE DRIVEN BY THE WEB BY SAID PIVOTED LEVER WHEN SAID PIVOTED LEVER ISMOVED TO SAID SECOND POSITION, (D) CONTACT OPERATING MEANS URGED TO MOVEWITH SAID PIVOTED LEVER, SAID WEB ENGAGING MEMBER AND THE LINE FEEDMECHANISM HAVING PORTIONS WHICH BLOCK SUCH MOVEMENT IN CERTAIN OF THEOPERATIVE POSITIONS OF SAID MEMBER AND OF SAID MECHANISM, AND (E) ALARMMEANS INCLUDING A PAIR OF CONTACTS OPERATED BY SAID CONTACT OPERATINGMEANS WHEN THE CONTACT OPERATING MEANS IN UNBLOCKED BY THE WEB ENGAGINGMEANS HAVING BEEN DRIVEN BY THE WEB AND THE LINE FEEDING MECHANISM ISOPERATED AND THE PIVOTED LEVER IS IN SAID SECOND POSITION.